University students who are placed on academic warning are often required to enroll in a course or program to support their return to good academic standing. This case study investigated the major issues that contributed to first-year students' academic struggles and how their participation in the Learning Contract course, guided by Appreciative…

Research in higher education has consistently focused on determining factors that influence student success and retention in academic programs. Successful students also positively impact the effectiveness of teaching practices used in a course. Previous work shows that a recurring set of assignments where students reflect on past work and set a…

Higher education often involves academic challenges like course selection or financial aid navigation. Developing effective study skills, mastering time management, refining note-taking techniques, and tackling complex course content demands dedication and proactivity. However, support services such as academic skills workshops and writing centers…

In recent decades, the massification and diversification of higher education have generated new challenges for the guidance of university students. The present study focuses on students' experiences of guidance in relation to their study progress and perceptions of their learning outcomes. The data (n = 4916) were collected from 2010-2013 through…

As a residential college within Michigan State University that focuses on STEM fields, Lyman Briggs College developed a STEM learning community to support students with low mathematics placement test scores, the Instilling Quantitative and Integrative Reasoning program (INQUIRE). INQUIRE serves some of those students considered historically…

This paper reports on a study that investigated understanding of learning amongst a cohort of students entering higher education by engaging them, via drama-based activities, with the process of their own learning (metalearning). The study combined Meyer's (2004) Reflections on Learning Inventory (RoLI) and Performance Based Research (PBR) in…

The transition into college remains one of the most formative and complex phases in an individual's life. Institutions of higher learning have responded to the challenges facing first-year students in myriad ways, most often by offering summer orientation programs, dynamic living-learning environments, tailored academic and psychological support…

Introduction: Online distance learning (e-learning) is now an established method for providing higher education, in the UK and across the world. The focus has largely been on developing the technology, and less attention has been given to developing evidence-informed course provision. Thus the effectiveness of this teaching approach, and its…

"Thriving in Transitions: A Research-Based Approach to College Student Success" represents a paradigm shift in the student success literature. Grounded in positive psychology, the thriving concept reframes the student success conversation by focusing on the characteristics amenable to change and that promote high levels of academic,…

This study explored qualitative variation in first year undergraduates' induction into the discipline in four dimensions: (1) induction into disciplinary knowledge; (2) induction into disciplinary research; (3) integration of learning from different courses; and (4) induction into disciplinary skills. Data were drawn from focus groups with…

Several studies have emphasised the importance of addressing social and emotional factors in facilitating adjustment to tertiary education. This article describes the Skills for Success in Science programme at the University of Cape Town. The broad aims were life skills development and improved adjustment which are assumed to underpin academic…

As yet little research into the perspectives of Chinese students studying in mainland China's Higher Education Institutions has been undertaken. This paper explores the issue of students' support needs and presents the findings of a study carried out in 2005-2007 at a public university in North East China. The Action Research method used…